The Bond
by TheShadowmancer
Summary: For years, young pegasus Night Wisp has had the ability to use her shadow in ways no other pony could. But when her abilities cause the death of a friend, her whole world changes. She learns that her ability is not only powerful, but a danger to others and herself, and she will discover that what we are given does not define us; we are defined by how we use what we are given.
1. Chapter One - Dormant Darkness

**-Chapter One-**

**Dormant Darkness**

_ Night Wisp slowly trotted down the silent streets of Ponyville, Luna's moon basking her in its pale, cool light. Many of the houses were dark and silent, their owners having gone to sleep hours ago. It was midnight, and nopony was outside except for the lone, dark grey pegasus that moved through the streets. Night glanced back behind herself, wondering if what she was doing was for the best of everypony or just plain foalish. She was told it was an accident, something she didn't know about, but now the closest pony to her was gone. Gone because of her. She felt another surge of anger rise in her soul, and she quickly faces forward, breaking into a full gallop. She fought back the tears in her eyes as she sped down the road, passing house after house, soon coming upon the town's edge. She slowed and stopped, exhausted both physically and mentally, and began to silently sob as wet droplets ran down her muzzle and onto the ground. Why was this happening to her? How had she even gotten into doing this? She lay down, still sobbing, as memories from the last two days trickled through her mind like the tears on her face..._

"Night Wisp! Wake up, young mare, or you'll be late!"

Her eyes barely even opened before she squinted them, bright sunshine glaring down on her from the window. Once they adjusted, she discovered whose voice had called her. A mare with a light orange mane and cream coat was next to Night's bed, grinning down at her at seeing the grey pegasus awaken. The mare was Harvest Moon, but to the pegasus, she was her mother. However, this didn't make much difference in Night's attitude towards waking up. With a groan, she ducked under the covers to try and hide from the blinding morning light. "Too..early..." the mare murmured, her voice muffled as she rolled her face into her pillow. Harvest only chuckled, grabbing the blankets with her teeth and yanking them off. "Come on, silly filly, time to get up!" The rush of cool air made Night shiver as the warmth of her blankets suddenly disappeared. She sat up, her mind beginning to process what Harvest had said...something about being late..?

Night's eyes suddenly shot open, realizing the meaning in those words. She remembered her conversation the day before with Elmwood, Ponyville's carpenter, and how he had offered her the job to be his assistant. She quickly looked over to her bedside clock. It was 7:30 AM.; she had 30 minutes until she had to meet Elmwood outside the carpentry shop. With a sudden burst of frantic energy, the pegasus was out of bed and grabbing her saddlebag, setting it on the bed. But instead of running around the room to gather her items, she simply closed her eyes as if in concentration. On the ground, her shadow darkened as small black tendrils reached out and began to gather the things she would need. She heard her mother sigh with contentment, then light hoofsteps as she trotted out. "I left your lunch downstairs in the kitchen, dear. Good luck at your job!" She was completely unphased by the sight of the pegasi's strange appendages. To her mother, this was a normal thing to watch; her parents had told Night she'd been doing it ever since she was a foal. However, they had always been strict about not letting her use abilities outside of the house, and also about not doing anything more than small tendrils for simple grabbing. The pegasus respected their wishes, as odd as they seemed, but would secretly practice other things when she could be alone. She discovered she could do many things simply by thinking about what she wanted done, and though it didn't take much more than a thought, anything more strenuous than simple grabbing would leave her feeling a little tired. It was like she was performing magic, like a unicorn, but she didn't have a horn, and she had always been told unicorns have to train to actually use magic. These facts really didn't make the mare any more curious, though; in her younger days, she would pretend she was a lost alicorn princess, and her horn had been hidden with spell to keep her identity secret. It was often just a game, but sometimes she would get a nagging feeling at the back of her mind, as if she was forgetting something. She would sometimes bring up a single tendril just to stare at if she grew bored, just to try and contemplate how she did it. She would touch it, only to meet the same thing. Nothingness. Her hoof would pass through it, the tendril being mere shadow. And yet, she could instantly make it solid and touch her own hoof with it, as if it had been solid all along. One day she had to find out what they were for, why she had them...but for now, she had more important things on her mind. Like her job. As the tendrils finished their work, dropping the last item into her bag, they slid back down into her shadow and disappeared. Night Wisp looked at the clock, which read 7:47. She was taking too long. The mare cursed under her breath, glad her mother was not in the room to hear her. Harvest didn't take cursing all too well, even if it was used for a good reason. Night tossed the saddlebag onto her back and quickly left her room, turning left to fly downstairs almost quite literally. Of all the days for her to be running late, it could not be this one.

As she entered the kitchen, Night saw a pale blue, earth pony stallion with a short, white mane looking over the morning mail. The pony was Wave Crest, Night's father. He looked up at the pegasus as she dashed in and grabbed the sack lunch Harvest had made for her, his grin an obvious sign of his amusement. "Not staying for breakfast?" he asked with a soft chuckle. "Your mother fixed some fine omelettes this morning..." Night knew that he was teasing her for waking up too late to eat breakfast, and oh, how she wished she could have one of her mother's omelettes! But getting her first job was her priority at that moment, and nothing was going to sway her. Giving him a playful glare, she turned, leaving the kitchen and her father, rushing to and out the front door. Turning left, the mare broke into a gallop as she headed towards the town square, narrowly dodging other ponies who were in the street with errands of their own. As she approached an intersection, she found herself running in a crash course with a large crowd just ahead. The mare's silver eyes flashed in the light as they darted left and right, taking in the scene before her. It appeared to be an accident where a cart had lost a wheel..some crates were knocked over in the center, rising up towards the left. Just behind those was a cloth sun cover for a small street shop, and quickly approaching from the right, behind the crowd, was a large wagon of fresh apples being pulled by Big Macintosh and Applejack. Night Wisp smiled, her route now clear in her mind. With a leap, she bounded up onto the crates, her speed hardly slowing as she reached the top and jumped from the crate to the sun cover. Being made of a particularly strong material, and likely reinforced with magic, she bounced off of the cloth as if it were a trampoline and soared through the air, landing with a *thunk!* on the Apple's wagon. Applejack jumped and turned around, looking both surprised a little annoyed.

"What in tarnation-" she began to say, then realized there was a familiar pony sitting atop the cart. Her annoyance turned to amusement as she let out a soft chuckle. "Well howdy there, Night! Ah shoulda known you'd be joining us at some point...this is the third time this week you've given me a start with one of yer fancy entrances!" The grey mare smiled, sitting down atop the cart and shrugging. "What can I say, Applejack? You turn right at this intersection every day of apple season at the same time of morning, and I happen to be going the same way just about every other morning. It's convenient."  
"Well, Ah guess so," the orange mare replied, facing forward as she and Big Mac began to turn right and heading towards the town square, just as Night knew they would. Applejack and her brother continued on, but the mare soon turned her head around to face the grey pony, a confused expression on her face. "Um..Night, not that I really mind, but what gets me is that, well...you're a pegasus. Can't ya just fly to where ya need to go instead of hitchin' a ride?"  
Night laughed softly at the question, extending her left wing out and acknowledging the appendage."Oh, but where is the fun in flying? It's too fast, and not very social. And besides, I like to check up on friends whenever I get the chance. And judging by your inventory today, I guess this was a good harvest?" She motioned to the abundance of apple crates that sat in the cart, each one filled with about twenty bright red and green apples.

Applejack's worried expression quickly changed to a proud smile at the pegasi's compliment. "Good? This has been more than jus' good, in my opinion. Ah'm thinkin' this could be the best harvest Ah've ever bucked!" the orange mare chuckled. "These here apples are jus' what me an' Big Mac bucked this mornin', but we may have to ask AppleSpice and AppleFritter to come from Appleoosa help us get the rest of the east field!"

Night opened her mouth to congratulate them when she caught sight of Elmwood's tan coat some distance away. She made a quick decision to go ahead and meet up with him, giving her goodbyes to Applejack and Macintosh before jumping down from the cart and cantering over towards the carpenter. She noticed that he was talking to Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing up and down in front of him; it was obvious she was excited about something. Knowing the pink pony, it could be anything from a birthday of somepony's pet to a visitor in Ponyville. Night soon made her way over to the two ponies, upon which she could hear them talking...well, Pinkie talking non-stop and Elmwood just appearing to listen. This was usually how 'conversations' went with the bubbly mare, but nopony ever seemed to mind, and Elmwood was nowhere near an exception.

"...and there'll be balloons and cake and cupcakes and more cake and games and dancing and music- *GASP* I think I'll go home and start planning it, I can't wait!" Pinkie jumped, somehow turned midair, then sped off down the road in the general direction of Sugarcube Corner, a mere blur of pink leaving a light plume of dust in her wake. After the dust settled, along with slight bout of coughing from both Elmwood and Night Wisp, the tan colored unicorn turns and realizes who was standing next to him. "Why, if it isn't Night Wisp!" the stallion exclaims in a gruff but cheery tone. "I was thinking I'd find you at the shop, but it seems you found me first!" He began to chuckle, which succeeded in bring a smile to Night's face. Any newcomer who gave a first glance at the carpenter would have been slightly intimidated by his size and look. But despite his elderly appearance, burly figure, thick silver-grey beard, muddy green eyes, and gravely voice, Elmwood was the only other pony besides Pinkie that could make just about anypony smile. He was known around town for his particular ability to crack the perfect joke for any occasion; his gryphon jokes were especially good, though they were often told indoors for courtesy of others. Some ponies would come to his shop just to talk with him, which was exactly how Night got to know him.

She had been to Elmwood's shop a few times when she was younger on errands with her father, but never spoke with the unicorn, often standing quietly next to Wave Crest while the two stallions chatted and did business. But one day while the pegasus, still a young foal, had ventured out to play, she came upon a group of colts and fillies showing off their cutie marks. Night Wisp was still a blank flank, and although she was probably a year older then most of them, she allowed herself to be ridiculed by the group. That is, until Elmwood stepped up. The mere sight of the unicorn scattered the group after a long moment of silence, leaving Night and Elmwood on their own. The stallion took her into his store, even taking her into the workshop and letting her help him with a few orders he had received that day, cracking jokes every now and then and giving the young pegasus small tasks which she would happily do. The evening rolled in eventually, at which Elmwood took the young filly home, letting her ride on his back the whole way. At reaching Night's house, he set her down at the front steps, but asked her to stay a moment.

"Night Wisp, I know it's tough not knowin' your special talent, and I won't always be around to scare off other ponies from makin' fun of you," he had told her. "But I want you to remember somethin'...just because you don't know doesn't mean somepony else does. Nopony can tell you who you are. That's for you to choose." He then smiled and gave her dark blue mane a playful nuzzle, slowly turning to head back home, but Night ran around in front of him. "Um..mister Elmwood? Can I work in your shop with you again? Maybe my talent is carpentry, just like you!" Her question must've been quite adorable, because the stallion looked almost downhearted as he responded. "I'm afraid not, Wispy...maybe when you're a little older. But I'm glad you enjoyed helpin' me today." With a soft chuckle, he gave the filly a light noogie with his hoof. "Now, get on inside. Young fillies like yourself don't need to be out this late, or Nightmare Moon will come out and getcha!" The pegasus had squeaked at the mention of Nightmare Moon and ran to the door, quickly waving to Elmwood before going inside.

That had all been when Night was only seven years old, and now, nine years later, she stood in front of the carpenter once again, about to get to work in his shop like before. Her flank was still bare of any mark, despite her efforts to find her special talent, but ever since Elmwood had taken her home that night, she had not cared one bit. She knew she was still unique compared to most pegasi, even if nopony else knew about about her abilities, and she took her difference to heart.

"Night Wisp?" The sound of Elmwood's voice quickly brought the pegasus out of her thoughts, at which she blinked her eyes a few times to find Elmwood giving her a concerned look. "Wispy, you okay?" he asked, bending his head down to look directly at her eyes. Night blinked again, then gave a warm smile. "Oh, hehe, sorry Elmwood. I was just thinking.." she replies, continuing to smile at the stallion in front of her in hopes to relieve him of worry. Elmwood looked at her for a few more seconds, as if trying to depict whether what she said was true or not, then shrugged and sat up again. "Well, alright. If you say you're okay, Wispy, I believe you," he said finally, giving his neck a good stretch before returning the smile "Come on then, time's a-wastin'! One of the first things you'll learn about workin' in my shop is that you never know how many orders you'll get, or how big each will be...the key there is to just keep on going. Lemme tell you about the time my uncle Mesquite got an order from Princess Celestia herself..."

And so he began to talk to her, telling stories and jokes as they went to his shop, which was not too far from the Ponyville Town Hall. The shop itself didn't look like much more than an old shack, for that is what it had always been. It was a known fact the Elmwood's shop was the oldest standing building in all of Ponyville, and had been run by his family since Ponyville was just a settlement that surrounded Apple Acres. While all of the other homes and businesses grew in size and glamour, adding colors and trendy designs, the carpentry shop remained the same, the owners always able to fix anything that was falling apart on the small, wooden structure. Whether it was the fact that a family of carpenters had always owned the place to keep it standing or whether the frame of the structure was made of enchanted wood, nopony knew. But the ratty old shack, despite its appearance, had proved stronger and more resilient to the weather than some of the newer houses built those days. There was never a loose board, never a single piece of rotting wood, utterly no visible area of weakness visible on the building; even as Night and Elmwood stepped up onto the front porch beneath the extended roof, the only sounds made were their hooves on wood. Not a single board creaked or groaned with age and feebleness, although each one looked similarly darkened from their exposure to the elements. However, this sight quickly changed upon stepping inside of the shop. The darkened boards became bright and fresh-looking, the floorboards of the store being glossed to preserve their appearance. The walls held no kinds of decoration to give a cozy feeling, but the room felt cozy nonetheless, despite the one wall holding a selection of example board sizes, along with a few chairs and cushions by the door for anypony who had the time to wait for their order. The room was neat, clean, and held a very comforting atmosphere that one often feels when inside a cabin. However, as the two moved around to the back of the counter, small traces of sawdust could be seen on the floor, and it began to become more noticeable as she and Elmwood reached the door to the workshop.

The stallion suddenly paused at the door, blocking the way for the pegasus to go in but not going in himself. Night Wisp, who was eagerly awaiting to get into the workshop already, looked around Elmwood's side and gave him a look of curiosity. "Um...Elmwood, is something wrong?" she asked, not sure if she should be worried that he wasn't going in and had become silent. The stallion turned his head, a single eye looking back at her as a grin crawled onto his face. "Oh, nothin's wrong," he replied, a soft chuckle sounding from his throat. "I just wanted to see how agitated you'd get if I stood here." The pegasus, though she knew the unicorn was just messing with her, gave him a pleading look. "Elmwooood! I want to start working already!" she said, nudging at his hind leg with a forehoof. The tan pony chuckled again, giving into the pleading as he took a step to the door. "Hehe, you're more eager than I was on my first day! Alright, Wispy, we'll get to work. But since it's your first day, I won't have you on any of the machinery. Fair enough?" Upon receiving a smile and a few nods from Night, the stallion pushed the door open with his head and stepped in, with the pegasus mare following behind. As she entered the workshop, she was immediately hit with the scent of fresh sawdust mixed with an odd smell Night couldn't identify. It was like somepony had tried to use incense to make the room smell better, but it had only blended with the first smell to make a sweet, dusty fragrance that was subtle and yet strong. Some would say it was one or the other, but to Night, it was the smell of work.

And there was, indeed, work. Although Elmwood didn't want Night to be on the steam-powered saw or doing any similar jobs, there was plenty he had for her to do. Sweeping up the floor of the workshop was the longest lasting part of her work, but it was not really what one would consider 'hard work'. It was perhaps more like a 'do this until I have something else you can do' kind of job, which the mare certainly didn't mind doing. The floor of the workshop, upon looking down, looked easy enough to sweep, but every time she'd turn around, the area she had swept up would have traces of sawdust and small wood bits in it. "Well, it is a carpentry shop..." she thought the first time she noticed the corner she had swept not a minute before had gathered a small pile of the brown flakes. At the rate the amounts appeared, Night had to wonder what the floor used to be like when Elmwood didn't have somepony constantly sweeping as he worked. But she continued to sweep, keeping anticipation strong in her mind, wondering when she would actually get to do more things, like help the stallion on an order or even, with hope, do an order herself. She knew Elmwood was the carpenter, but ever since the last time she had been in the workshop, she had really wondered if maybe carpentry was her special talent. The smell of the sawdust, the atmosphere of the shop, the sound of wood being cut and pounded upon, all of this just seemed to be comfortable to Night. Was this how a pony felt before getting their cutie mark? This strange comfort that comes with a mix of relating sounds, sights, smells...could carpentry be her talent? She would have thought further into that idea, maybe even daydreaming herself as a carpenter had Elmwood not come up and tapped on her shoulder. Startled, the pegasus made an 'eep!' sound and spun around, the broon dropping from her teeth and clattering to the floor.

"Whoa there, it's only me, Night!" the tan stallion said, an amused but forgiving expression on his face. Night paused, her own face blank for a few seconds before it blushed red with embarrassment. "Oh, sorry Elmwood. Just a little excited..." she replied with a chuckle, hoping he hadn't noticed her spacing out. The unicorn simply chuckled with her, then shook his head. "Hehe, I know you're eager about workin', but there's no need to make yourself nervous! I was just going to ask you to run over to Mocha Bean's shop and grab a couple of coffees. I just got three more orders on top of the two I have to finish, and I'm going to need some extra fuel." The mare agreed, and after receiving a small pouch of bits, trotted out of the shop, turning right and heading over to the coffee shop. To be honest, though the sweeping was an easy job, it had been getting a tad tedious for Night, so the opportunity to walk was appreciated. When she arrived at the shop, she found a decent line just barely poking out of the door; a good ten minute wait at least. She was in no hurry, though, so she waited the ten minutes and soon had two cups of hot, fresh coffee. However, traveling back to the workshop took a little more time. The coffee was fresh, and if it was from Mocha Bean's shop, that meant more than just 'hot'. Nopony knew exactly how the pony made her addicting coffee, but there were few ponies who could drink a fresh cup of her café equestriano and not receive a good burn in their mouths.

Night soon reached the workshop with the drinks just in time to hear the hissing sound of the steam-powered saw being turned on. The sound grew steadily louder as she entered the workshop, the high-pitched mechanical shriek soon erupting as Elmwood placed the spinning blade down on a two-by-four he had placed on the cutting table. Not able to get any words out above the sound of the saw, he motioned to a table behind him for the mare to set down the drinks. There was a problem, though, one that the stallion didn't seem to realize. The table was a mess. Tools, wood chunks, and goggles covered this particular table. But, not seeing any other tables that were cleaner, Night moved some of the items back enough to set the small tray with the two coffees down, though the tray looked a bit precariously placed. She looked at it for a moment, then turned around, shaking off her worry. Elmwood may be a stallion, but he wouldn't be one to go and easily bump into something. This thought barely finished reading in her mind when suddenly, there was an odd series of sounds from behind her. She heard Elmwood make a mild sound of surprise, the sound of a bump, a splash, then a more surprised yelp from the stallion. She heard him get through only one curse, though, before the saw's tone changed to a slightly lowered sound, like an object had hit it that wasn't wood. Something warm lightly spritzed her cheek, like small droplets of water, and there was a shrieking sound. Not the blade on wood this time, oh no...it was Elmwood.

The stallion was kneeled on the ground, screaming worse than a banshee as he held his right hoof. Scarlet stained the dusty fur, the silver metal blade, the cutting table, and a little bit of Night's grey coat. The two coffee cups were one the ground, their liquids spilled and mixing with the red droplets that trickled from the wound. It was at this time the mare, now realizing what was going on, went into a panic. Elmwood was hurt. Badly. Where was the first aid? Did he even have one? What was she supposed to do? She quickly went to Elmwood's aid, trying to calm him down as the steam saw wailed on, mixing with the screaming to drown out her words. Night began to think frantically to herself, _Help him, heal him, do something, dammit!_ She closed her eyes to think, trying to focus amongst the confusion so that she could figure out how to help the unicorn. Suddenly, an odd idea came to mind. A suggestion to herself, just as random thought, something she would never have thought of in any other situation: her abilities. They worked by thought...was it possible they could heal?

She opened her eyes to look at the wound, only to further surprise herself by the sight of 3 black arms already reaching from her shadow. The arms quickly wrapped around the hoof, writhing madly, convulsing like living creatures, creating a sight that looked very unsettling. Then, they stopped and became still. Slowly they slid back to her shadow, like snakes to water, as Elmwood still held his hoof, no longer screaming but still looking to be in pain. A rush of drowsiness quickly hit Night as the arms finally disappeared, making her need to sit down so as not to tip over. What had she just done? It was obvious she tried to heal the wound, but she hadn't planned on doing it yet. It was like the arms had made their own decision. This, however, could be figured out later; her question right then was whether Elmwood was alright. She reached out a hoof to the unicorn, whose eyes were shut tight still. He jumped at her touch, eyes opening and staring at her blankly, as if everything that had just happened was erased from memory. The eyes looked at her, then down at the blood-stained hooves. Slowly, the top hoof moved aside to reveal...more blood-stained fur. Just blood-stained fur. The wound, a sizeable gash that might have taken weeks to fully heal on its own, had disappeared within a few seconds.


	2. Chapter Two - Death of a Carpenter

**-Chapter Two-**

**Death of a Carpenter**

_ First, there is silence; then suddenly, the sound of wood ripping and shattering is heard. Now there are voices...a male and a female. What are they saying? Night tries to make out the words, but suddenly there is the sound of strong wind, loud but low. A couple of screams are heard, an explosion, then nothing. Night Wisp opens her eyes to see a figure standing over her, muttering something she doesn't understand. She tries to speak, but cannot. Darkness begins to swirl in her eyes, and there is sharp, wrenching pain in her chest, as if something was trying to rip her soul away. She cannot scream, she cannot move, pain, pain everywhere, darkness closing around her...then suddenly, there is light._

The mare opened her eyes and sat up with a gasp, breathing heavily to satisfy her burning lungs. She looked around frantically, only to realize she was sitting on her bed, in her bedroom, safe at home. After a few minutes of slow breathing to calm herself, Night looked over at her window. It was dark out, which was a small relief. At least she hadn't slept in again. Squinting her eyes to make out the face of the bedside clock, she read the time and sighed. It was 3:17 AM. A light, cool breeze suddenly touched Night's face, sending wisps of her mane blowing across her forehead. She looked over to her right to find her window open, curtains lit by moonlight as they danced in the silent wind. _Harvest must have opened them before going to sleep..._ she thought. A second breeze blew in, and something about it drew the pegasus from her bed and to the window. Her silvery irises lit up in the pale glow of the moon, creating a sight that would have mesmerized anypony who were to look at them. Her gaze slowly scanned across the cloudless sky; Luna had made the night sky particularly beautiful. Each star was like a diamond sequin among hundreds of others that created a shimmery dark dress, and the crescent moon was the centerpiece that held the black cloth together. A truly beautiful night...but even Luna's masterpiece was not enough to distract Night Wisp from her worries. Her thoughts continuously drifted back to the workshop, to the sight of that shadow, _her_ shadow, writhing on Elmwoods hoof, then suddenly revealing that the wound was gone. She had healed him, but something about it felt...odd. She wanted to say it felt wrong, but what wrong had it done? The unicorn's injury had been quite severe, and she had made it disappear, as if it had never been there. And yet, she felt bothered every time she pictured the image. Also, another point was Elmwood himself. How did he feel about knowing his assistant had abilities she never told him about? The shakiness from the shock of his injury had made it hard to tell, and all she made out was his letting her have the rest of the day off. Was he afraid of her? It wasn't like she was different. Maybe he would reward her...or fire her. And if that happened, who else would he tell? Would she be able to get another job?

These thoughts were quickly suppressed by Night, to be worked out in the morning. There was no need to plan on being fired, or feared. It's not helpful to think of bad outcomes, she thought to herself. A small phrase from Harvest suddenly came to mind: even in the darkest moments, hope is the brightest light. The grey mare whispered it to herself as she turned from the window, returning to the warmth and coziness of her bed. Pulling the sheets up to her neck, her eyes closed, and soon she was asleep once more. She was asleep...but deep inside, something was waking up.

There was a large crowd gathered in front of the carpentry shop when Night arrived that next morning. She had woken up a little early to not be late, and thus had to walk since Applejack and Big Mac wouldn't be there for another ten minutes. In all honesty, she was surprised by all the ponies who had also shown up; she had never seen so many ponies gathered on a day without any events. _Or maybe there is an event? I certainly didn't hear about anything going on this morning...maybe somepony in the crowd knows?_ She began to trot forward, but as she approached, she began to feel the same odd feeling from the day before and early that morning. She felt like something was wrong...no, something was wrong. Nopony seemed to be showing any form of joy or excitement, or even any casualness. The air was tense, and so were the expressions of many ponies in the crowd. Upon reaching the crowd's edge, the feeling was now stronger, like a cloud of uneasiness was being created amongst all the ponies gathered. Over the whispers and murmurs, her ears could detect a stallion's voice, louder than the others but not quite loud. "Everypony stand back a little...we need room to work...no ma'am, we don't know what happened yet.." Night could feel her heartbeat quicken. _Something's happened?_ What's _happened?_ The pegasus began to nudge her way to the center of the crowd, the feeling in her heart becoming worse. At the center, she found herself muzzle to muzzle with a white, stallion pegasus in golden armor who looked a little overtaken by the ponies nearby whom were asking questions. "Again, ma'am, I know as much as you do," he explained to one lavender earth pony. "I'm just here to make sure the crowd doesn't get too close. I don't have any information."

"What about her? She's the assistant!" a mare's voice called out.

All eyes quickly turned to a sea green unicorn who had stepped forward, with one hoof pointed right at Night Wisp. The eyes followed the hoof, and soon everypony was staring at Night as if expecting her to say something. The grey pegasus was frozen, unsure how she was supposed to react, having only just gotten there. Looking at the unicorn mare, Night noticed the cutie mark was a lyre. She recalled a few times when she had seen this pony in the streets, oftentimes with Ponyville's chocolatier, Bonbon. A name suddenly popped into her mind: Lyra. The name rang in her mind, but she couldn't place it. It was hard to think with so many ponies watching her. _Lyra...hadn't Elmwood and I been making an order for a Lyra yesterday? Yes, we had been working on a table for Lyra! Elmwood had talked about her briefly, said he had had a conversation with her about the order. Maybe he mentioned me to her? It seems to be the only thing that makes sense..._

"Um excuse me, miss?" a voice said, one that was very close. Night almost jumped, having been deep in her own thoughts again and forgetting she had a crowd of curious ponies staring at her. Looking up, she found the armored guard now standing in front of her. "Miss, is it correct that you're the assistant here?" he asked calmly. Night, not sure if it was the best decision but knowing it was her only decision, slowly nodded. At her confirmation, the guard turned and whistled to another, similar-looking guard standing by the front door who was speaking with a third pony, a stallion in a trench coat, obviously not a guard. A detective, maybe; this made Night begin thinking. _Why would there be a detective? This isn't a crime scene..is it?_ The first guard trotted over to the second guard and began talking to him, motioning over towards Night. The second guard's expression became one of interest, and he looked to her and motioned for her to come forward. She did so, though a little hesitantly._ Oh Luna, what am I getting into..._ she wondered as she trotted up the steps. The first guard turned and returned to his position holding the crowd back, and the second guard motioned Night over towards the trench coat pony. "Detective, this young mare says she works here. I thought you might want to talk to her." The stallion looked to the guard than to Night Wisp. "Is that so...well then, maybe she can give us some information," he replied, keeping his gaze on Night for a moment before looking back at the guard. "Meanwhile, I need you to disperse this crowd around here. I don't want to cause a commotion when we move...well, _him_. He's not exactly a pretty sight.." The guard said not a word, but simply nodded before turning and trotting down the steps to relay the orders. Night watched him go, her insides feeling ready to turn inside-out. She was not one for anticipation, the good or the bad kind. She just wanted to know what happened to Elmwood. A light hoof tap on the shoulder swiftly directed Night's attention to the stallion who was now facing her once more.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Detective Windrunner, the best detective that Canterlot can offer," he said as he made a small bow; Canterlot ponies were always big on formality. Night quickly looked him over, subliminally taking note of how the detective looked. Cobalt blue coat, copper-brown mane brushed to one side, and lime green eyes. Detective Windrunner then straightened up and looked out from the small porch, as if surveying the buildings nearby, before continuing. "I realize I'm a little far from my home territory, but when I heard that there was a puzzling case in Ponyville, I thought I'd take a swipe at it. And what seems to have happened here is, indeed, quite odd..." Night's ears perked up, her mind anxious to know what it was that happened. The stallion paused, then turned back to the mare and chuckled. "Oh, where are my manners! Tell me, what would your name be, m'dear?"

"Night Wisp," she answered quickly. "Look, Detective Windrunner, I don't understand any of this. Why are there guards here? What's going on? Why- mmph!" Her rain of questions was suddenly cut short by the stallion's hoof covering her mouth. "Have no fear, Miss Wisp, all we be told in good time," he said, his tone soft so as to sound calming. "Until then, I need you to answer a few questions about mister Elmwood." As reasonable of a request as this was, Night was becoming too frustrated to want to comply. Nopony seemed either able or willing to tell her what the hay happened, and more importantly, nopony was telling her where Elmwood was. She hadn't seen him anywhere in the crowd, and this would be the first place to find him if something had happened at his shop. The mare glanced over to the shop's front door, which was now vacant of a royal guard to keep anypony out. "I will happily answer any questions you may have, Detective," Night spoke, turning herself towards the door. "But _after_ I find Elmwood." With hardly a second passing from the end of her sentence, Night rushed to the door and pushed it open. She never saw Windrunner's expression, but she heard him shout her name as she headed inside.

A quick glance around the room brought up a very clear statement: the place was a mess. The chairs, once on by the front window, were now strewn about, one of them even broken. The rack of boards that had once been up against the wall was knocked over, and one of the smallest boards had been pulled out and broken. All this, but no Elmwood. Night glanced to the workshop door, left slightly open, which had an 'X' of yellow tape across it. To any, it was just a door, but something about looking at the door made the pegasus feel afraid. She felt an inner instinct telling her to stay away from it, to not go in, but something else pushed her towards it, as if it wanted her to see what lay beyond. And she wanted to see what lay beyond, but every step closer made her heartbeat quicken just a bit more, rising in pace, becoming louder. She heard the detective open the door and tell her something, but his voice was dulled, as was everything else around her. All she could hear were her hoofteps towards the workshop door and her racing heartbeats. As soon as she reached the door's frame, she felt cold wash over her body. She knew whatever was in there was bad, but the thing inside continue to guide her onwards, raising her hoof to pull away the tape, to slowly push the door open. She hardly even felt herself enter the room, as if she were doing nothing but watching through somepony else's eyes. Her eyes scanned over the workshop, which, like the first room, was an utter mess. The goggles and tools once kept piled on the tables were now scattered on the floor. Drawers were opened by what could be guessed as a result of frantic searching. Nuts, bolts, washers, and other metal pieces lay here and there. Her view moved towards the center of the room to show the cutting table for the steam saw. The sawblade still had the dark stains from the day before painted across its sharp blade, and there was a spray mark across the table where some more blood had fallen. Her gaze shifted once more, to the left side of the room, to reveal a sight that could be described as nothing less than horrific. Blood was _everywhere_. Small red dots flecked the ceiling above. The walls were sprayed with red, complimented by a few sizeable splotches with small trails running down from them to the floor, to join in the large pool of dark crimson that spread across much of the ground. And there in the pool, his once decent tan coat now discolored by the blood and grime, lay Elmwood. His body was backed up into the corner, curled in a fetal position, his head adorned with bruises, blood trailing down from his face and within his mane, and his forehooves covering his eyes. Night took all of this in, eyes wide and staring. In her mind she was wanting to turn away, run from the room, to leave the awful scene behind her and forget everything, but her hooves seemed to have a different idea. She could barely feel those few steps forward she somehow made, cool blood on her hooves as she slowly walked up the the body. She didn't feel herself raise her hoof to Elmwood's face and move away his own hooves. She didn't even hear her own scream.

Elmwood's eyes were gone, or so they appeared to be. The pair of murky green eyes that had once been filled with joy, humor, and kindness were replaced by emptiness and thick, dark blood that trailed down the stallion's face like tears. And as if this mere fact were not bad enough, protruding from each of the eye sockets was about six or seven nails, some slightly bent to one side from being constantly hit upon when they could go in no further. Though the eyes were missing, Elmwood's expression was one of true terror; his mouth was even still open in mid-scream, but his voice was long gone. Whether it was the shock of what she saw or the finality of her curiosity, Night suddenly regained a feeling of control in her body strong enough to quickly back away from those eyes, to get away from the terror that she saw on the unicorn's face. Her senses finally returned to normal, but the state they were in was ragged. Her breaths were fast and heavy, her heart felt ready to burst, tears rolled down her face, and her whole body was shaking. So many thought were flowing through Night's mind that she could barely hear any of the thoughts at once. Nothing was making sense, but what she saw did make sense. Elmwood was dead. Her only friend lay dead, cowering in a corner with nails beaten into his skull.

"Night Wisp," spoke a low, demanding voice from behind the pegasus. She turned around to see, with eyes blurred by tears, the two royal guards from outside of the workshop standing behind her. "Night Wisp," one of the guards repeated. "You're going to have to come with us." This was the final straw for the mare. Her confusion and shock reached their peak; sounds grew muffled, her vision swirled, and she felt herself falling. What she never felt was hitting the ground.


	3. Chapter Three - Darkness Discovered

**-Chapter Three-**

**Darkness Discovered**

_Thousands upon thousands of years ago, back to a time before the alicorn princesses, back before even the three pony races formed Equestria, there came tales that no pony, griffon, or dragon had ever encountered before. Stories of a unicorn with strange abilities began to spread across the land; like any story, the re-telling will be changed a little, but the description was always the same. A unicorn stallion with a white coat, sometimes claimed to be wearing a cloak so black, it was like he was shrouded by sheer darkness. His shadow, if one ever looked close enough at it, was said to move on it's own, like a creature's breathing. Those who were said to have touched the shadow went mad only a day or less afterwards, if they didn't kill themselves in the most appalling of ways. There were those who sought after this unicorn, some to kill him, some to learn this strange magic he seemed to posses. Of both, few ponies were seen again, and those who returned were not the same._

The blinding glare of sunlight slowly began to come to Night's attention, it's warmth covering her entire face. She moved her left hoof around, trying to see where it was, then lifted it up from where it lay to cover her eyes. Meanwhile, Night's other senses had begun to wake up as well, and she quickly processed that she was lying in bed. The pegasus wiggled herself up into a position with her back against the headboard of the bed, gave her legs and wings a good stretch, then sank back down a little to a more comfortable position while her eyes adjusted to the light. Though most of the things in the room were still blurs, Night was able to make out the bed she was in, which was significantly larger than any bed she had been in before, not to mention much more comfortable. The bed was somewhat circular in shape, with four wooden posts that held a small cover above the bed. The bed's covers were a lovely purple with golden trim, and a golden sun was stitched into the center. Night found herself recognizing the symbol, but since she was not yet fully awake, she couldn't place what it was, nor did she want to bother trying. Lifting the covers away by one of its corners, the grey mare scooted over to the bed's edge and slid off. Her vision having improved some, she now saw that not only was the bed large, but the room looked much larger than your average bedroom. The bed was placed with the headboard on the wall opposite of twin doors, just left from the right side of the room appeared to be some kind of study, the entire wall being covered by shelves filled with dozens of books, along with a couple of desks placed in front of the shelves. On the left wall to Night was a pair of large windows with purple and gold-trimmed cloth curtains, and from these windows she found herself looking out over what seemed to be all of Equestria. Stepping away from the windows, Night turned and quietly trotted toward the twin doors, careful to not alert anypony outside that she was awake. That is, if there was anypony to hear her. She still had no clue where she was, after all, but she could tell from the windows' views that it was high up. She would have guessed Cloudsdale, but everything there was made of clouds, though it could sometimes be hard to tell. But the granite floor she stood on didn't feel very much like a cloud, but instead hard and cold, like normal granite. Shrugging off the thought, the pegasus leaned forward and slowly pushed one of the doors open, only a crack, to see if she could learn about her location. She couldn't see very much, however, because there was an armored, buff-looking royal guard standing just outside the door.

Night Wisp froze, hoping to Celestia that the guard didn't notice the door's movement, miniscule as it was, as she slowly shut the door again. She then waited a moment, listening for a low voice to call her name, or for somepony to open the door, but nothing came. Breathing a sigh of relief, Night quietly backed away from the door, then sat down in the center of the room. _Well,_ she thought, _I guess I won't be able to explore as long as those guards are there. I doubt they're standing there for looks..._ With not much else to do, Night decided to give the study a closer look, hoping that maybe some information could be found there. _Studies are often where ponies read and write letters,_ she told herself. _If I can find a scroll or a letter, maybe it will have a name on it that will tell me where I am._ This was, of course, a sensible statement. Looking around the study area, Night noticed many things, from books of spells and Equestrian history to maps and charts of both Equestria and beyond, but nowhere did she see a single scroll or letter that might give her any information. Not ready to give up just yet, the pegasus opened her wings and gently flew upwards, scanning the rows of books for anything even looking like a scroll. During her search, many books caught Night Wisp's eye. There were biographies about many of history's greatest ponies, like Starswirl the Bearded. There were a few books that discussed mythical creatures known as humans, which Night found a little odd compared to all of the other factual books that were on the shelves. Everypony knew such creatures didn't exist, after all.

Almanacs, history records, books written in different languages, a few history books about times that nopony but the Princesses themselves could possibly remember...all of these, but not one single scroll. With a soft flutter of wings, the pegasus flew down to the floor, a little dismayed at her lack of findings. She turned, walking in the direction of the bed, ready to just lie down and give up, when she noticed something glint in the light from the windows opposite of the study. The glint came from under the edge of one of the desks, a little speck of reflecting, golden light. Upon closer inspection, Night saw that the reflection came from a small latch, almost hidden from view. The latch was so small, though, only a unicorn's magic could open it...that, or one of Night Wisp's shadow arms. Though she was still afraid of her abilities, especially after the recent events, a small, wispy arm of black reached up from Night's shadow and opened the latch. The top of the desk opened up almost immediately, startling the pegasus. The inside of the desk appeared deep, though it showed no signs of the inner size on the outside, an obvious sign of unicorn magic. And inside of the deep cavity were dozens of scrolls, stacked in an organized manner, each one tied with a red strip of ribbon. "Jackpot!" Night whispered to herself. She reached in, picking up the top scroll by the ribbon around it using her teeth, then set it on the second desk behind her. Pulling the ribbon's end, the scroll unfurled before her to reveal the first real piece of information she had come across since waking up.

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_Today I learned it's not good to jump to conclusions. You have to find out all the facts before saying somepony did something. If you don't, you could end up blaming somepony for something they never did. This could hurt their feelings. And it could make you feel really foalish. So from now on, I will make sure to always get all the facts._

_Sincerely,_

_Pinkie Pie_

Night Wisp stepped back, her mind filled with bewilderment as everything began to make sense. At one point, Applejack had explained to Night how she and the five other ponies, who made up the Elements of Harmony, were given the task to write to Princess Celestia herself each week about the virtues of friendship. And by reading this letter from Pinkie Pie, Night could tell that was what this letter was. Why hadn't she seen it before? The mile-high window view, the large room, the fabulous bed with the design of a golden sun stitched into the purple covers, the books of history older than anypony _except for the alicorn princesses_. Night Wisp knew where she was, but the mere fact didn't make sense. The room she was standing in, if she was not mistaken, was Princess Celestia's personal bedchamber.

"Ah, I see you found my letters," came a voice from behind, one that, despite its calming nature, made Night nearly jump out of her skin. Turning around, the young pegasus found herself standing before none other than Princess Celestia, her colorful, aura-like mane gently floating in a non-existent breeze. The alicorn looked the same as she always did, a golden necklace hanging around her neck, a shoe of gold on each hoof, her golden crown sitting on her head just in front of her horn, and her white coat seeming to give off light, just like the sun that she controlled. To sum it up, the grey mare felt quite small and embarrassed to be standing before one of Equestria's two rulers with the said ruler's mail lying open on a desk beside her. "U-Um...I-I.." Night stammered, unsure what she could say to make the scene look a little less nosy. "Y-Yes, your highness, I d-did..." Celestia's eyes glanced over to the table, where Pinkie's letter still lay open, and, to Night Wisp's surprise, the alicorn smiled. "There's no need to be nervous, young one," she said in her soothing voice. "I certainly can understand how strange it is to wake up somewhere unknown to you, especially after what you've been through. But let's not discuss that here; my royal chefs have a nice dinner being prepared, and I would love to have you join me..." The princess paused, then lowered her head down to Night's level. "...that is, if you are feeling any better than before? If not, I can-"

"Um, actually your highness, dinner sounds really good right now.." Night interrupted, giving a semi-nervous smile as she felt her stomach groan a little. The prospect of food seemed to be in its interest, especially if it was dinner time already; she had only been at the carpentry shop that morning, making the mare wonder how long she had been out. Meanwhile, the alicorn princess smiled at Night's response and straightened up again. "Well then, it's settled. I'll answer any questions you have over dinner," she spoke as she turned, heading towards the twin doors where the two royal guards still stood. "Like what happened to Elmwood?" Night asked, her curiosity over the disturbing death of her friend getting the better of her. She saw Celestia pause again, then turn to the guard on her right. "Guard, on second thought, could you go to the kitchens and ask the chef to bring dinner to my private lounge? I think our guest is a little...overwhelmed as it is, and the dining hall would not help her get over the feeling very well." The guard nodded silently, then trotted off down the hall to the right. Night shuffled her wings, a small bit of worry growing in her mind; whatever the answer to her question was, she didn't think she was going to like it.

The walking distance to Princess Celestia's private lounge was decent compared to the known size of the castle. Although, it must be understood that, like all castles, only a small percent of it is used as a home; the rest is used either as soldiers' living quarters or for grand parties. The castle of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna is hardly any different; the base floor consists of most of the castle's largest rooms, such as the banquet hall used for the famous Grand Galloping Gala. From the first floor up, the rooms tend to get smaller, the highest levels usually being guest rooms, but the family that owns the castle is often placed towards the castle's heart, for both protection and convenience. Celestia's lounge was not far from the center, being a personal room, whereas the dining hall would have required that Night Wisp and Celestia travel down a few flights of stairs to reach it. Such was the assumed reason that the alicorn chose her personal room instead of the dining hall, but Night sensed something else. She had sensed it from the moment Celestia had changed her mind, as if things had suddenly taken a step up from calm to serious the moment the young pegasus brought up Elmwood. As sure as this feeling felt, though, it was small, and so Night was able to ignore it during most of the dinner (which had mysteriously arrived before them) with the princess.

To further distract herself from the disturbed feelings, Night Wisp took time to observe the private lounge Celestia had brought her to. Like the bedroom, the lounge had many shades of purple and gold, amongst many other soft colors, along with a couple of windows that provided a magnificent view of Equestria, but the lounge was perhaps half the size of the room Night awoke in. It was a cozy room, like the kind of coziness one gets when they visit their grandparents' house. Aside from the small size, the lounge had many places for ponies to sit or lie down comfortably, for the granite floor here was covered by a nice, plush rug of purple with the golden sun, Celestia's own cutie mark, emblazoned upon it just like the bed covers. Surrounding the rug were large, round pillows, two of which Celestia brought to the wooden table in the room's center for she and Night to sit on as they ate dinner. The rest of the room reminded the grey pegasus of the study in Celestia's bedchamber, for there was also a bookshelf overflowing with books on the wall opposite of the windows. Overall, it was a pleasant room; an ideal place for somepony to come when they wished to be alone and curl up with a good book.

Her observations complete, Night reached over to her drink, a crystal chalice of cranberry juice (her favorite), and took a drink from it. Her silver eyes glanced over to Princess Celestia, who was levitating her own chalice for a drink with her magic, her horn glowing with a golden aura. They had both been silent while eating, despite Celestia's offer to answer questions, seeing as Night had not yet asked anything. This, however, was about to change; as soon as the pegasus set her chalice down, she heard the princess clear her throat.

"Well then," she began. "As much as I'd like to avoid it, you asked in my bedchamber what happened to your employer, Elmwood..." The alicorn looked straight at Night Wisp, her expression quite serious. "I understand you both were close, so I will ask this, for your own sake: are you sure you want to know?" Night opened her mouth to respond with a generic 'yes', but stopped herself to give Celestia's question some thought._ Why did she bring up the fact that we were close? How did she even know we were close? And what does she mean by, 'for my own sake'?_ she wondered. Feeling less certain than before but still wanting an answer, the mare quietly nodded her head in reply. Celestia remained silent at first, but with a sigh, her expression relaxed to one depicting defeat. Her horn began to glow, and a book from the shelf sitting to her left slowly slid out from one of the rows and floated over to Night. It turned, revealing to her the book's cover title: _Black Magic: Spells of Destruction, by Starswirl the Bearded_. The letters were written in silver upon the book's black surface, with no kind of artistic designs on it. The pegasus remained quiet, feeling unsettled that the princess would show her this in response to her question, but not sure if it was the answer. She looked up at the alicorn, whom she found was watching her quietly. "Um..your highness, I don't understand..." The book floated away from Night and over to Celestia, who looked at it and sighed again. "The spells that schools and universities teach all throughout Equestria are built up together so that a unicorn can use his or her magic for creating and building, for doing and helping. They are taught you use their magic for good. Starswirl called it 'white magic', or 'spells of creation'. But like all things, there is always an opposite." The princess turned from the book and looked at Night Wisp, who was still as confused as before. "Black magic is that opposite. It is a kind of magic that is prohibited to be taught in average universities, save for military academies, but even then nopony is ever taught any spells of destruction, but instead how to defend against them. The only results that came from those using black magic was corruption, war, and death. Sadly, the last of those brings us to your friend." There was a brief silence as Celestia let the seriousness sink in before she finished. "Elmwood was killed by black magic. My mages told me they found a magical 'bug' inside of him, one that made Elmwood feel like he was living his worst nightmares. This bug, called a Fear Sliver, is a form of black magic that was once used for torture and interrogation, but was later banned from all Equestrian magical military training. It was, and still is, a horrible thing for anypony to live through...the trauma it causes can last a lifetime, and the penalty of using the spell is death."

Night Wisp sat in silence, not even listening to Celestia's attempt of reassurance. She was too busy trying to comprehend the alicorn's suggested conclusion that Elmwood, a harmless unicorn carpenter, was murdered by somepony using a forbidden kind of magic. Murder was a thing almost unheard of in Equestria, especially in Ponyville; there were the occasional cases of a stallion or mare who went insane due to a magical accident and consequently killed somepony, but outright murder was something else. To be told her friend was killed by somepony made Night terribly confused, but the only thing that outweighed this confusion was her anger. _Elmwood was one of the best-liked ponies in Ponyville, and nopony from the town seemed to have any reason to kill him. So does this mean that some random unicorn from who knows where just showed up and killed Elmwood without even thinking about who he was?_ the pegasus asked herself. The mere thought of this only made her feel more angry and confused, until soon she couldn't stand it anymore. "Princess Celestia," she finally said, looking across the table and right at the alicorn. The princess, who was still looking at the book levitating in front of her, glanced in the pegasi's direction, then turned to meet the gaze with an expression of curiosity. Night almost cringed, realizing she had thrown the formalities her parents had taught her to the wind, but her anger pushed her onward. "You said Elmwood was killed by magic," she continued, memories of a book on magic crime-solving coming to mind. "So you should have been able to trace the spell to the caster. I read somewhere that each unicorn and alicorn has a unique aura surrounding their magic abilities, and the book also said that the aura can be followed with a tracer spell." The alicorn nodded, her expression seemingly calm, but the smallest hint of concern could be seen in her violet eyes. "You are correct; a unicorn's aura can be traced from a recent spell they have cast, and that is how most, if not all black magic practitioners have been caught. And before you ask, my mages have traced the aura from the sliver to the owner." She stopped there, as if that were enough information, but Night was too confused to simply take that as an answer. "And?" the mare asked, leaning forward. "Who was it? Who killed Elmwood?"

There was a long silence. Princess Celestia opened her mouth once or twice like she was going to answer, but then hesitated and closed it. Her eyes glanced from the book on black magic to Night Wisp, as if trying to decide how she would answer the question. Finally, after three minutes of nothing, the alicorn sighed and closed her eyes. "You'd think that after a few thousand years, one would know how to avoid telling a secret..." she said, her voice soft, making it seem like she was speaking to herself. Then her eyes opened, and they were gazing right into Night's own. "So tell me..how much do you know about your abilities?"

This question caught the grey pegasus completely off guard. Her anger, which once outweighed her confusion, was now crushed beneath the hundreds of questions that were running through her mind. But of all these questions, the one that stood out was, of course, the biggest, most important question: how in the wide world of Equestria did Princess Celestia know about her abilities? This was the first time she had ever met either of the alicorn princesses, and with how strict her parents were with using her shadow at home, it wouldn't make any sense for them to tell anypony else about it. Then again, nothing was making sense to the mare at this point. In her confusion the pegasus simply remained silent, though her expression made it easy to see she was certainly surprised. Meanwhile, Celestia had stood up from her pillow and trotted past Night Wisp, taking a moment to gaze out from the windows. "It's called Shadowmancing," she said, turning from the windows to give the grey pegasus a sideways glance. "It's a branch of black magic, an ability that gives one control of darkness itself, to use it to their heart's desire. Its maximum strength has the capability to even match Luna and I's own magic..." She turned again with a gentle sigh, now facing the windows again. "...but unlike our magic, there are prices one must pay for gaining and performing Shadowmancing. Like any magic spell, using your shadow to do things will take energy from your mind and your body; the bigger the action is, the more your energy will be sapped. But when our energy runs down, we grow tired and can't perform spells. With Shadowmancing, your shadows become stronger and more powerful as you use more energy. When you begin to grow tired, however, your shadows become unstable and harder to control; they will continue to take your energy until you are weak, and then they will betray you and consume your mind. It's a fate far worse than death...you will be alive, but a hollow shell of who you were. Still, despite these risks, others-"

"What about gaining them," Night Wisp interrupted, her tone low. "You said there was a risk in gaining them, and yet you're skipping it." Before even letting Celestia reply, the pegasus whirled around, wings flared, and her face bearing an expression of anger. "What is it that's being kept hidden from me? First it was Elmwood's death, then I wake up here, and now you're talking about black magic and shadow-wielding, or whatever! Tell me, princess, since you seem to know more about me than I do, what else is there that somepony failed to tell me?!" Though she may not have looked it, the young pegasus was on the verge of tears. She didn't like how the princess was bringing all of these secrets up when she asked who killed Elmwood, sensing there was a kind of unspoken implication, and she especially didn't like who it was implying. Celestia, meanwhile, simply sat there, looking out the windows in silence, before her soft voice began to speak again. "To gain the ability of Shadowmancing, one is required to sacrifice a living soul to a mysterious entity called only the Nightmare, the supposed creator of all things evil, but more importantly, the source of black magic. The soul can be one's own, or they can sacrifice the soul of another. Years ago, an explosion of light was seen far down in Ponyville one night, and I received a rushed letter with hardly more than an address. Not sure what to think, I left the castle with four of my guards, traveling to the address in the letter. What we arrived to was what had once been a house, but had been destroyed by some kind of powerful blast. We found bodies...we thought nopony was alive. That is, until we heard a foal crying, along with a second, lower voice, muttering things in a language I am still unfamiliar with. Upon entering the remains, we found a unicorn wearing what was left of a black robe standing in front of a cradle, and above him was..." She paused, as if finding the thing hard to describe. "...black. It was black and hazy, like smoke, but it didn't move like smoke; it acted like it was _alive_. It floated down, sinking towards the cradle, at which we heard the cries of the foal grow louder. I had my guards cut the unicorn down, at which the blackness suddenly convulsed before rearing back from the cradle and disappeared. The foal, a pegasus, appeared to be unhurt; finding nopony else alive amongst the wreckage, I brought the foal back to the castle, just until I found it a new home in Ponyville. The explosion was later covered up, with some difficulty, and the bodies removed to lessen suspicion. The report was written up, the wreckage was cleaned, and the whole event soon faded from memory, its only remaining piece living with an earth pony couple in Ponyville."

Another moment of silence passed, the alicorn unmoving from her position, until finally she stood and turned, her face devoid of any obvious expression. "The letter I received that night had many things written in it, most of it unreadable, except for the address and a name. That name was Night Wisp. It was a name I decided to give the foal we found in the destroyed home, the foal who had an unexplainable magical talent with shadows, the foal who has lived in Ponyville for sixteen years without anypony, not even her subordinate parents, knowing who she was. It was a plan I thought could last until you were older, able to maybe understand this a little better...but then I hear news of a pony's death in Ponyville caused by black magic." There was no change in her tone throughout everything the alicorn said; in fact, her voice sounded quite calm for such matters. The princess had been alive for thousands of years, and she had learned that in a one-on-one conversation as serious as this, one of the participants had to sound calm, even if they weren't. With a few steps forward, Celestia leaned her head down close to the grey pegasus, whose tears had begun to run down her muzzle, her jaw open in silent horror, knowing already what the princess was going to tell her but not wanting to believe it. "Night Wisp," Celestia whispered. "Elmwood's death was not, by any means, your fault. If anypony's, it is mine. It was wrong and has been wrong of me to not tell you this sooner, as I'm sure it would have made things better than they are now. But now that you're here, it is my hope that together you and I can understand your abilities and find out why you have them." In a brief break of her calmness, the princess leaned closer and lightly nuzzled the mare's cheek, a simple gesture of reassurance but still a rare thing to see, much less receive. The mare, however, simply stared straight ahead, lips trembling just slightly as the river of tears continued to flow from her silvery eyes, each drop glistening like a pristine diamond before it hit the floor.

Princess Celestia stood up slowly, glancing over to the windows once again with a sigh before turning back the pegasus. "Night, I need to go lower the sun so that my sister may raise the moon," she spoke softly. "I will leave you to yourself in here, though you may feel free to explore the castle; all I ask is that you don't go outside for the evening. Not all of the guards are informed of you being here yet, and I don't want you to get caught as a trespasser..." Standing up, the alicorn turned and quietly trotted towards the lounge's door, opening it using her magic without even breaking her stride. She paused just outside, giving one final glance to the young mare who sat inside, still staring straight ahead. With a sigh, her horn glowed, and the door slowly shut with a faint *click*.

When she returned from her duties, however, Night Wisp had mysteriously vanished.


End file.
